My utter disdain for traditional martial arts grows by leaps & bounds...

[Katriona1992]

I'm 6', 185 and there's a 14 year old who's bigger and stronger than I am in our adult class. The only thing making him wait another year to join the class would do is make him bigger and meaner and it hurts enough to get hit by him now.

I think these things are best handled on an individual basis. Leaving the kid I just mentioned in the junior class gives him no challenge and is really discouraging to the other kids, who can't make a dent in him. He can truly physically hang with adult brown and black belts, so I see no reason to shut him out because of his birthdate. For that matter I was the same height I am now and about ten pounds lighter when I was 13 years old and first started karate and I never took a kids' class.

That is true too. Maybe I'll tell my instructor this fact when I next see him on Saturday